After a particularly steep learning curve in trying to get my website launched, it is now LIVE!!!  You can visit the site here:

www.faiersandceramics.com

That got me thinking though…  Over the last several years I’ve been faced with learning curves on the steepest end time and again.  When you work on the production end of the Theatre at any level you are constantly faced with new challenges that you’ve never entertained before.  How ARE you going to get all of those T.V.s to come on at the same time and present the same image?  How ARE you going to get that real painting to disappear magically and display something else or lift the roof off the building?  How ARE you going to make that entire curtain fall to the ground in an instant on cue?  How ARE you going to make those two free-standing doors magically appear and disappear into the floor in 5 seconds or less without any noise?

So when I decided that I wanted to build my own website, knowing absolutely NOTHING about how to do it, I went through what I have learned are the 8 common steps in approaching daunting and seemingly insurmountable tasks.

1.  Denial – All good steps to deal with a problem in your life should start with this step in my opinion…  In the case of a daunting and seemingly insurmountable task it usually takes one of the following forms or both.  a).  Denial that the task actually exists, or b).  Denial that you will have any problem tackling the problem.  Both have surfaced for me on various projects, but regardless of which one takes shape, both give way to step 2…

2.  Procrastination – I LOATHE Procrastination, and yet, I employ it without fail in nearly every part of my life.  But if there is a time I am SURE to employ it, it is when I am faced with an enormously challenging learning curve…  Usually I will put off learning anything about the problem until I am forced to do something about it.  At best I will mull the problem over in my head a few times to get a good thesis in mind.  ***WARNING*** Educated guesses are a great place to start, but when combined with procrastination can produce sleepless nights and coffee overdoses…

3. Begrudging Acceptance & Decision to Start the Project – I recognize that it is counter-intuitive for any type of acceptance to come in the MIDDLE of any steps to solve great problems, but that’s just the way it is… If it weren’t for this middle step, these “seemingly” insurmountable tasks would fall into the JUST PLAIN INSURMOUNTABLE category.  So with head hung low and recognition of how much time has been wasted procrastinating, the project has at last become tackled, though at this stage it resembles a 13 month old clinging to the leg of his father and screaming as he sinks his hands into a pile of poopy diapers…

4.  Frustration – This frustration is primarily directed at this point toward software developers who think your issues are trivial and simple to solve, manufacturers who either don’t make the thing you have thought up in your head or cannot get said item to you overnight, or keyboards that clearly DON’T understand what you intended to press with your coffee-rattled fingers.  Though sometimes this frustration will be squarely directed at your dog who has decided NOW is the time that he needs go in and out and in and out the door…

5.  Depression – Usually, though not always, a time comes while tackling a daunting or seemingly insurmountable task where you will be convinced that there is no way in HELL you are going to be able to crack the code or make it work or understand what anyone is telling you.  It is just as easy at this point to go back to bed and give up as it was to procrastinate in the first place.  Often times I feel in this stage like just tacking on a few more days to step 2…  However, I also find that this stage falls just before the summit of the problem.  Keep going!  This usually happens at a point when I’ve realized that everything I’ve done will need to be scrapped and I will need to start over anyway, so why not just go back to step 2 promising to do some more “mulling”.  I’ve come to understand everything prior to this point as a Research and Development phase.  If you can overcome the hurdle facing you at this point and go ahead and start over, you’ll find that you’ve learned just about everything you need to know to make the project work…

6.  Flurried Excited Confidence – Once you start into the project anew, you will find you have a second, nay tenth wind, and can see the end in sight.  Creativity abounds and you CAN’T BE STOPPED.  During this stage you get great new ideas that may add hours to your project, but go with it, you won’t be sorry.  This is the Climax!  Everything is happening at once and you’re beaming with pride!  Go get em!

7.  Celebration – This is where I stop and have a beer!  Job well done!  Reminisce and think fondly on your vicotories.

8.  Ego Fulfillment – The unfortunate reality to overcoming a challenge like this is that your Ego will need some stroking.  I know I know I know…  Ego is the root of many problems.  I myself try every day to strip myself of the demands of the Ego, but it’s there and it’s loud in moments like this.  Do your best to recognize that very few people will care that you have overcome this challenge… In many cases it is indeed your job to have come up with the answer, so that said… FLAUNT IT!  Show the World!  YOU ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!  Just whatever you do… don’t look at your list, mine always contains at least 3 projects sitting idly in Step 2…